Keystone's four famous faces may get the lion's share of visitors' attention these days, but the former mining town still prides itself on a lesser known figure.

Carrie Ingalls, the younger sister of "Little House" series author Laura Ingalls Wilder, called Keystone home for 35 years.

Die-hard fans and curious onlookers on Monday celebrated her birth 139 years ago.

The Keystone Area Historical Society held the first Carrie Ingalls Day in 1985. It was a much bigger to-do back then, said longtime Keystone resident Lois Halley, who provided music at the inaugural event.

Earlier celebrations featured fiddle and banjo contests, horseshoe competitions, costumed celebrants and crowds outside the old Keystone Schoolhouse. The building, which served as Keystone's full-time school until 1988, now houses the Keystone Historical Museum and its collection of Ingalls family memorabilia.

Monday's birthday party was much simpler. A few "Happy Birthday" signs hung on museum doors. Volunteers served cake and refreshments and encouraged visitors to sign a card for Carrie. Most well-wishers just signed their names. A few, like Emily Minchew of Utah, wrote a personal note.

Signed birthday greetings have become an annual tradition, said museum employee Arlene Robinson. This year's card will be placed in a scrapbook along with cards from earlier birthday parties.

Caroline Celestia Ingalls was born in 1870 in Montgomery County, Kan. She was the third of four daughters born to Charles "Pa" and Caroline "Ma" Ingalls.

Carrie Ingalls arrived in Keystone in 1911 to take the helm of the town's local newspaper, the Keystone Recorder. She was already a seasoned newspaper manager when she took on the position, having worked at newspapers throughout frontier South Dakota. Ingalls retired from the newspaper business a year later after she married David N. Swanzey, a widower with two children. She remained in Keystone until her death in 1946.

Halley met Ingalls after she moved to Keystone in 1945.

"I knew her before she was famous," Halley said.

The "Little House" series, which chronicles the childhood of Carrie Ingalls and her sisters, made the Ingalls family a household name. "Little House in the Big Woods," the first in the "Little House" series, was published in 1932.

Museum staff and volunteers said rally traffic probably kept many locals away from Monday's celebration, but a few bikers made their way to the museum.

Brent Helms of Greeley, Colo., and Chris Zavorka of Laramie, Wyo., were pleasantly surprised to learn of Carrie Ingalls' Keystone connection.

Zavorka recalls reading the series as a young boy. Helms gleaned his Ingalls know-how from the television series.

"I remember watching reruns of 'Little House on the Prairie,' " he said.

Museum visitors are often amazed at the discrepancies between the books and the TV program, Robinson said.

To learn more about Carrie Ingalls, visit www.keystonehistory.com or drop by the Keystone Historical Museum at 410 Third St. in Keystone. Hours are 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Admission is free, but donations are welcome.